


Time-lapse

by chapdye



Category: Saving Elliot - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Internal Conflict, Love/Hate, M/M, Minor Character(s), Minor Violence, Multi, Saving Elliot, Swearing, Texting, wattpad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2014-11-17
Packaged: 2018-02-25 16:50:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2629121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chapdye/pseuds/chapdye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Benjamin O'Connor couldn't help but feeling a little less, well, O'Connor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time-lapse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rainyhyades](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainyhyades/gifts).



> Here you have a one-shot I've had on my mind about Finely's future husband, and the first work I've ever written. I don't think it's too shabby. But anyways, this one-shot is from Saving Elliot, a beautiful piece of work in Wattpad. You should check it out if you haven't.
> 
> P.S: Fintry never existed in this AU, or you can assume he never returned for Jensen.
> 
> P.S.S: If you don't know who James Callahan from SE is, check this out: http://enginesinrepair.tumblr.com/post/91501459722/omg-can-you-tell-us-a-little-bit-about-finleys-future

Benjamin O'Connor never expected to actually attend college.

He expected to somehow magically turn in a wealthy man and bed supermodelesque girls. Maybe even keep playing videogames with his friends, jamming with some AC/DC and even keeping his youthful and super good looks. And, you know, stay young forever with his friends.

He also never expected that he'd actually have to come back to Limerick, Ireland. Or go to some bullshit 'Limerick College of Further Education', that was about 300 miles away from his cozy place at Manchester.

But seriously, why did he join?

That question lingered in his mind as O'Connor rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and groggily put on some mismatched socks. He had to go to his first day programme, Sport, Recreation & Fitness, which he highly regretted. Sport and Recreation Studies and Sports Anatomy and Physiology wasn't very fun, but he never was a wise man, either. After that, he had to attend his Dressmaking & Creative Knitting programme, which, he admitted, was kinda hard. But he wanted to get closer to the ladies, and it seemed to work. Later, he would take Applied Social Studies (the Equality and Disabilities module was making him more and more aware) and finally Photography (he thought this would be his 'just for fun' thing, but he had made a grave mistake.)

College was hard. And don't even get him started with his Evening programmes. Life Coaching for beginners fucking sucks.

And it didn't help when Margaret O'Connor, a member of the Equality Team, has made it her life goal to 'properly educate him.' She was a nice person, but, he didn't know why, she always started to get a bit rude towards him, and constantly reminds him to check his privilege. He's constantly walking on eggshells when she's around.

But worst of all, it didn't help when his dickhead of a cousin, James Callahan, decided to attend the same college. Fucking seriously. Couldn't he attend Warwick University like he's supposed to?

O'Connor stood and stretched. He was in his rental flat, which was pretty nice, in his standards.

And, eventually, he managed to get ready and he was off to college.

For O'Connor, time seemed to pass by quickly. How he managed to live a fast-paced existence? He didn't know. Maybe Margaret placed a curse on him or something.

It was strange though, with all these stressful activities, some would think O'Connor would be breaking his head to get out of the infernal place as quick as possible. Maybe he felt nostalgic? He wasn't sure. But he knew he missed his friends, and the constant texting and calling wasn't enough. He needed to get out of here.

But, in the deepest parts of his mind, he knew. It was 'the sadness.' 

O'Connor couldn't really explain it himself, but for the past months he's been in college, he's been cracking less jokes and feeling, well, down. He hasn't ever experienced such a depressing mood, but O'Connor dismissed it as a side effect of being a college student.

It was only when he was texting Jensen one day that he realized something.

It was just another friendly conversation, with Jensen talking about her studies and stuff he couldn't understand. And then he made the mistake of asking about Finley. Christopher Finley.

Elliot Jensen was surprisingly vague about the topic, claiming he was the same ol' Finely. Y'know, that warm dork with the beautiful green eyes. Yeah, him.

But what caught his attention (and made him feel dull) was the brief description of Finely's love life. Apparently his best friend is in a serious relationship with James Callahan. He felt like he should feel happy, strange, confused,  _something_ , but he simply ended their conversation soon afterwards it was mentioned.

Now, sure, he should be happy for him, right?

But he wasn't sure he could. It was the fact that even though he called Finley many times since he left Manchester five months ago, he never once mentioned that he was in a relationship with his cousin.

Maybe the question just never came up? He asked himself, and simply dismissed the whole subject, but O'Connor couldn't help but feeling less, well,  _O'Connor_.

But that was old news for him. O'Connor has been in Limerick for many months now, and he didn't know what the hell was wrong with him anymore.

Days kept passing as he did his duties again and again. He didn't strain himself to get the job done right, and his work usually fell in the mediocre category. 

As for girls, well, he was still getting some, but he didn't have that spark of his seventeen year old self. Man, those were the golden days, just partying around without a care in the world, the ability of giving his signature hugs, the genuine niceness radiating out of him. Sure, he was still genuinely nice, but slightly veering off course from time to time.

But then there he was.

It was a week before he was about to visit Manchester and his chums when he stumbled across a very pissed off James. O'Connor was in a joyful mood today, not only did he finish his work quickly, he hadn't encountered Margaret the whole day, which, by O'Connor standards, that means it was a good day. But of course some retard had to shit on his day.

"O'Connor." Callahan said, his eyes giving off a dangerous glint.

He didn't know what he wanted, but he thought they were going to start another verbal war, something they commonly do.

"Yes, James?" Oh, he knew how that pissed him off. 

He started glaring at him murderously, clenching and his fists. Benjamin had been so focused on his face that he didn't realize that his uniform was completely caked with mud from head to toe. "Woah there James, what happened to your uniform? D'ya want a towel or som-"

"Don't bullshit me O'Connor I know it was you."

This actually caught O'Connor by surprise. "Look, James, even though you are a pretentious dick I would never-"

"I had to bloody chase Rosemarie Doyle all across the fucking college for my fucking guitar, and you say you didn't do this?" 

Callahan and O'Connor were nose to nose now, and O'Connor would be lying if he said he didn't feel a bit intimidated right now. James had never been this angry before. Not that he witnessed, anyways.

"Look, James, I didn't do anything." O'Connor said honestly.

"Oh sure, of course I would believe you. You're the only one prickish enough to deny this kind of thing. You're low scum like that."

Anger surged through O'Connors veins. Time passed so quickly, he couldn't stop the events from happening.

O'Connor had punched James in the face. He didn't know what the hell he did wrong, but he was not taking any more of this dickhead's bullshit. 

Sooner or later, this escalated to a full-on brawl, Benjamin O'Connor versus James Callahan, and the winner won all. O'Connor was releasing all his pent up anger on this two-penced, son of the bloody whore who birthed him, (whom, by the way, was his aunt) even though he didn't know where he was going with this. Every movement he made was out of pure rage, something O'Connor himself was surprised of.  
But the fight died out as he was forcefully picked up from some disapproving security guards and separated from his beat up cousin.

Prick deserved it, he thought, but he began to second think it and felt horribly guilty.

 

More time had passed and he visited Manchester on February, where all his friends were glad to see him, all except a very special person named Finley.

O'Connor couldn't realize it at first, but he started to notice how uncomfortable Finely was around him.

He stayed in Manchester for about a week, playing footy like the old days, getting his ass whooped by Jensen on Xbox, laughing at Kopov's old jokes and such. But he noticed how Finley was a bit distant towards him. Sure, they laughed, cracked jokes, did old drinking challenges like the old days, but something was a little off. Maybe he was nervous?

The day O'Connor decided to confront Finley about this, was about February twelve, a couple of days before Valentine's day, ironically.

"Hey Finley!" O'Connor called. "Over here!"

O'Connor was outside Finley's house as the man of the house himself looked surprised. 

Finley came out of his little cave and furrowed his eyebrows. "What are you doing here?" He said, slightly defensively, but O'Connor dismissed it.

"C'mon, I need to take you somewhere." He said and dragged a confused Christopher Finley out of his domain.

 

As they were walking, O'Connor couldn't help but notice that Finley was wearing an old band shirt, some black jeans and black Converse. His hair was messy and he looked confused but a little but irritated, too. "Where are we going?"

O'Connor didn't answer, but they eventually arrived at a bar. Yes, you guessed it. 

The White Rabbit was a surprisingly nostalgic place for O'Connor, and he was beaming when they entered. But Finley didn't look amused. "Seriously OC, what are we-"

O'Connor tugged him along and forced him to sit in front of him.

"Let's talk." O'Connor smoothly suggested, though his heart was beating in an irregularly fast rate.

"Talk? What talk?" Finley said nervously.

"Why are you so, um, different." O'Connor said lamely.

"Different?"

"Yeah, y'know, like, nervous or something." O'Connor avoided his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Finley said, trying to sound normal.

O'Connor sighed. Guess, he needed to be straightforward. "Why are you being so distant? I know you're dating James and stuff, and maybe, um, you're feeling guilty about it. I don't like your taste, though." He said quickly, but it made Finely's face pale.

"Who told you that?"

"Doesn't matter. Seriously though, were you going to keep this from me?" O'Connor said, a little disappointed in his best friend.

"...No." Finley said, looking down. It hurts that he would lie to him like that, but it wasn't his problem.

"Well, anyways, I'm happy for you." O'Connor said.

Finley's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yes, really."

The moments after their conversation were finally filled with sincere laughter, Finley's guilt-free and beautiful eyes gleamed as they cracked some jokes and drank a couple of beers. As so did the rest of his final days on his visit to Manchester.

 

 

O'Connor was dazing off, leaning on the kitchen counter, until a noise ruined his nostalgic moment. "O'Connor!"  
His head snapped in her direction, and he put on a small smile. "Well, well, what have we here?"

Jensen was holding a muffin out for him. "Eat up. Unless you want it warmer, I can microwa-"

"S'alright." He took a large bite out of it, and he had a blissful look on his face. "Delicious as always."

Elliot Jensen gave him a bright and sincere smile.

Benjamin O'Connor had been married Elliot Jensen for months now, and even though technically she should be Elliot O'Connor, he kept calling her Jensen as a form of endearment.

Elliot had managed to become a doctor, a great one at that. They had slowly fallen in love and were declared a 'cute couple', as Tamara Cromwell, no, Tamara West had said.

O'Connor wasn't the same since he returned to Limerick. 

If it wasn't his problem, why wasn't O'Connor happy for Finley Callahan?

**Author's Note:**

> tbh i think i portrayed his character poorly (o'connor) but i'm working on it. also i feel like i kinda bent relationships to fit this story, so, sorry about that. and the unnecessary shit.
> 
> all the characters are from saving elliot, except margaret and rosemarie, as they are real people from that limerick college
> 
> also, i bet u can tell i'm not from england, a thousands of miles away in the caribbean actually, but hey i tried.
> 
> this is so emotionally depriving im not writing a word for the next two weeks or something omg


End file.
